I remember reading this story once. Every evening a little boy watches from the window as his father comes home from work. He watches as his father removes the snow covered shoes outside, leaves the umbrella and then seems to hang something on the peg. After many evenings of the same ritual, the son asks his father ” Daddy , I dont see anything in your hand and yet you seem to be hanging something on the peg”. His father replies “son, i just remind myself to hang my work troubles outside the home, so when i step in, I’m free and completely present for all of you”

Do you deal with all your major buckets, goals in life…work,family, home, finances, friendships on separate levels or does something happening in one impact the other ?

This is a real life story and I’m feeling inspired…and thats why I am here at 1 am writing.

I haven’t been able to put this person out of my mind.Not in any romantic manner ( sorry romance addicts ! ) but his tenacity and courage.

I’ll call him Steve and here’s his story.

I met Steve through work. Actually it was someone who referred him to me and I gave him a call on a Friday morning. I found him to be a very high energy and enthusiastic person. We chatted quite a lot , all about work.

In my nature of work I meet a lot of people and somehow because of this I have developed an uncanny sense for understanding people’s motives, goals, what drives them and besides all the tools I have been trained in to gather information..i have a vert sharp intuitive sense.I have also learnt how to navigate conversations gently in the direction I need to.

I just knew with Steve , there was something special. Over the next few weeks , Steve and I interacted a lot , it was always about work. I knew on the work front Steve had been dealing with a lot, he had had it tough yet his energy and positivity were quite amazing.

One morning , we were having a conversation about planning next steps and his story just unravelled.

Steve has a son who has been diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer , there are only 26 people around the world with this illness. The week that he told me the story , his son was due for surgery with a team of doctors from leading research institutes around the world. The surgery would decide his chances for survival.

And he told me everything so matter of factly and in response to why he wouldn’t have been available for a meeting later that week. I was truly amazed, humbled at this person’s courage and his ability to deal with everything that was going on in his life at different levels.

He told me his son’s story and then moved on back to work without dwelling on it or expecting anything from me.

I felt humbled and this was a note to self…dont over indulge in trivial pursuits and focus on being present.